


Unexpected

by little_boats_on_a_lake



Category: Original Work
Genre: "Enemies" to lovers, Adorable, Allergies, Anaphylaxis, Angst, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Cheesy, Cute, Delirium, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Magic, My First Work, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Rivals to Lovers, Romance, Sick Fic, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED, everyone deserves a happy ending, i love my idiot children, maybe he's not that evil, nothing is black and white, sun and moon themes, they just choose to use one bed, well no thats not true there are multiple beds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:34:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 19,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28035501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_boats_on_a_lake/pseuds/little_boats_on_a_lake
Summary: The sun had just set and heavy rain poured down upon a charming village and a large house at the very top of a lonely hill. The looming house looked down on a great forest, where a girl stumbled in the cold. A faint knocking came from the front door. The young man reading by the fire put his book down and raised his eyebrow at the door. He deftly pulled a small knife out of his boot and cautiously opened his door, sneering at who stood there.“What are you doing here?” He spat at her. His stony face softened as he took in her appearance. She stood shivering, bleeding, scared with a slightly dazed look in her eyes.“…didn’t know where else to go…” She mumbled as she collapsed in his arms.“Oh!” He staggered back, surprised by her weight. He dragged her backward by the arms and dropped her near the fireplace. Biting his lip, he paced around her unconscious body, turning over ideas in his mind.“Why me?” He paced. “Why here? Ugh.” He paused for a moment to look at her unconscious face. “Stop looking at me like that. I don’t need to help you.” He knelt down to face her and stared at her for a few minutes, contemplating what he should do. “But I should.” He let out a deep sigh. “I’m going to regret this.”
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aredhel_of_gondolin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aredhel_of_gondolin/gifts).



She woke up. That wasn’t right. She wasn’t supposed to wake up. Stirring slowly, she opened her eyes to see a bright room with faint moonlight streaming in from a large window. Her boots rested by the edge of the bed and most of her damp clothes were draped over the arch of the bedpost. She was practically swaddled like a baby in a thick black cloak.

“Oh good, you’re up. Finally.” A voice came from her right as she tugged the blanket up to her neck.“Took you long enough.” She craned her neck to see her archnemesis by the door holding a tray of soup. Instead of dressing in his usual armor, he wore a loose white tunic and simple black trousers. “I made you soup. I, uh… I suppose you could see that.” He sat beside her and lifted a spoon to her lips. She simply stared at him. “No, I did not poison it. And you need to eat something, you haven’t eaten since… I don’t know, when did you last eat?” She stubbornly moved her head away from him and pulled her covers over her head. Annoyed, he pulled the comforter away from her face.

“No…” She grumbled.

“Stop that.”

“No.” He tried to pull the blanket toward him, but she pulled back.

“Give it.” He pulled harder, but she matched his efforts. He put the tray on the table and pulled with both hands

“No.”

“Let go.”

“No.” They struggled with the blanket, each pull getting stronger. The girl suddenly let go and the force flung him off the side of the bed. He growled under the blanket as she held back a laugh.

“Thank you.” He said grimly as he pushed the blanket off his face, his stern face softening at her small smile. “Now, will you eat? Please?” She pouted, but nodded. He reseated himself on the bed and placed the tray in his lap. Lifting a spoon up to her lips, he watched as she solemnly ate. He brushed a lock of hair out of her face, sighing wearily. “You would think people would have the common sense not to go wandering off in the snow. You know, you were almost frozen solid when you collapsed into my house. And you weren’t even wearing a cloak.” All the while he fussed about her, she kept her eyes focused on him. His eyes were creased at the edges, hinting at a smile, despite his complaints and increasingly unsuccessful attempt to keep a grimace on his face. He _enjoyed_ this.

“What?” He asked sourly.

“Nothing.” She whispered. She finished the last spoonful of soup and he pushed the tray onto the side table. “…why am I alive?”

“Because your parents made a mistake?” he asked sarcastically.

“No. Why am I... not dead?”

“What were you expecting? Did you think I was going to kill you?” He dropped his sarcastic tone.

“Uh…”

“What were you expecting?” His tone became a bit more serious, if a bit disappointed.

“...Not soup from ‘Maurus the Monstrous’.”

“You thought I was going to murder you.” He raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t a question.

“I don’t know who would or wouldn’t anymore.”

“Did the villagers try to murder you?” She turned away from him and tugged absentmindedly on her curls. “Damn, I guess they are more than just sheepherders.” She felt a warmth on her shoulder and glanced to see his hand awkwardly placed there. “It’s ok, Sunny. You can stay here as long as you need.” He picked the comforter off the floor and draped it around her body. “You should... Um, you should get some rest.” The door closed behind him with a soft thud.

How many times had she fought him by now? They had been archenemies for many years, but she had never seen him like this. Whenever she had seen him, what she could see of his face was contorted with rage and pure malice. But he was so kind to her. In all honesty, she had expected him to kill her as soon as she had shown up on his doorstep. She had somehow found herself in the middle of the forest and well on her way to his house. Whatever her subconscious had been thinking, it obviously thought he was somehow the safest person to go to. Then again, she had thought her family was safe and they… no, not her family. Not anymore, at least. She shuddered and shut her eyes tightly, huddling herself closer in the warm comforter. They couldn’t hurt her now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come say hi to me on Tumblr! @little-boats-on-a-lake


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone knows she's gone but only one person notices she's missing

“Did you hear what that girl did last night?”

“Lovelace? Oh, hasn’t everyone?”

“I knew that girl was trouble from the start!”

“Uh, _excuse_ me?” Hannah Marie stopped in her tracks. Yes, eavesdropping was a bad habit. What? She admitted it was bad. So was gossiping and yet the women behind her were such absolute saints.

“Well, if it isn’t sweet little Hannah Marie! How are you today, sweetheart?” Hannah Marie mentally grimaced as she turned to face them.

“I’m doing well, but I would be better if I could find Felicity.” She put on her most charming and innocent smile. Old ladies loved innocent and charming children.

“Oh my. She hasn’t heard.”

“Gracious! Poor child.”

“Where is she?” Hannah Marie asked in a clueless voice. Poor little girls who don’t know anything hear more, don’t they?

“I don’t know and if she knows what’s good for her, it’ll stay that way.”

“That’s a bit harsh!”

“It’s what she deserves after all that’s happened! She almost killed our best hunters!”

“Felicity? She would never hurt anyone!” She furrowed her brows. There was no way her best friend would be violent if she didn’t need to. Something was definitely off.

“Poor child, she’s in denial.”

“Oh, the poor dear.”

“She went wild last night. We barely survived her!”

“She attacked you?” Hannah Marie couldn’t blame her. She was considering it now.

“Well… not us, per se. But I heard she attacked Calien and Hedar like a rabid beast!”

“Without any reason?” Felicity and Hedar may have been a planned match, but Felicity seemed to like him. Even if she had attacked him, he must have given her a reason to.

“The girl’s always been a bit mad in the head, if you ask me. That seems to be reason enough.”

“But mad enough to attack her betrothed?”

“I suspect she ensnared him with her black magic. Oh, I knew we should never have trusted her.”

“She’s likely been in league with Maurus the Monstrous this whole time.”  
Too far. Way too far. Maurus the Monstrous was known as a monster for a reason. If Felicity hadn’t been chosen to defend their village, he would have burned them all ages ago.

“You think they faked fighting each other?”

“I wouldn’t doubt it. With how long they’ve been fighting and neither of them actually winning?”

“I always thought she was holding back with him.”

“Either of them would have been dead by now. I can’t believe it took her so long to turn on us.”

“Uh…” Hannah Marie began angrily, but was quickly drowned out.

“Oh, you poor dear, you must be traumatized.”

“I know it must be hard for you to believe Felicity manipulated you like that.”

“Um, not really-” Why did old ladies have to be so oblivious to “charming young kids” getting angry? Hannah Marie swore smoke was coming out of her ears at this point.

“She must be in shock.”

“Oh, of course. Take as much time as you need, darling. These things take time to process.”

And with that, they walked off. Hannah Marie was frozen to the ground where she stood. How could they just do that? How could they just accuse Felicity of practically being a murderer and walk away as if nothing had happened? Everything had happened and she had no idea what to do with it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So his name definitely wasn't Maurus...

“How are you feeling?” He asked, nudging her shoulder gently. “Do you think you can get up?” She had nodded off and it seemed that the sun had just risen, if the sunlight beaming from the window was any indication. She nodded meekly.

“Good. You need a bath. Come on.” She raised an eyebrow at him as he deftly picked her up and carried her to a room with a tub and a large lever.

“You’re so eager to get me to take a bath. I’m sure I don’t smell that bad.” She croaked flirtingly.

“Someone finally feels like talking again.” He noticed as he pulled the lever, causing water to flow out a spout above the tub. Her eyes widened in shock as she ran her fingers under the warm

water.

“How…?” She asked, filled with wonder.

“What, the water? Simple pressure system.” He replied offhandedly.

“Pressure system…” She murmured. “And it’s warm? How does it work?” She looked up at him with inquisitive eyes.

“Uh, the water is stored outside the house since it collects natural water.” He responded, taken aback by her interest. “I started a fire under the tank so it would heat up and when there’s any opening, the pressure from the heat causes it to rush out.”

“Incredible…” She mused, pressing her ear to the ground and hearing the rushing water. He gazed curiously at her as he yanked the lever, turning off the water.

“I have some spare clothes here for you and I’m going to go look for something that might fit you better.” He nodded at some clothes he had left on the ground and shut the door behind him. “I’m right out here, just yell if you need me.”

She tentatively slipped off her scruffy underclothes and the thick cloak. Her hands quivered at the sight of dark bruises and the faint dried blood. She slipped into the warm bath and scrubbed at every bit of blood on her skin. There wasn’t as much as she was expecting. Maurus must have washed off most of the blood. No one had ever done that for her before. Whenever she returned to the village after a fight, she had to care for any wounds herself. It was ironic. He had always been the one to give her pain, never to take it away. What could he be planning?She carefully limped out of the bath. Her foot still couldn’t bear her weight, but she’d been through worse. Water dripped around her as she pulled the large shirt over her head. It hung loosely above her knees and smelled quite pleasant, like (fresh earth.)

“May I come in?” A voice came from beyond the door.

“Yep,” She called. He walked in, keeping his eyes on the fabric he held.

“So, I found some things in… oh.” He stopped entirely as he looked up at her. His eyes went wide and he nervously scratched the back of his neck. “You… uh…”

“…Are you okay?” She asked, smirking at his reaction.

“Uh huh,” He had to admit, she looked awfully nice in his clothes with her damp hair. It brought his brain to a full, screeching stop.

“Oh, good, you found some other clothes!” She perked up, seeing the skirt and off white blouse he held. “This is nice!”

“Uh… good! Here!” He stuck out his arms and she took the clothes from his arms.

“You should probably leave.” She suggested slyly. “And close your mouth, you’re going to catch flies.” He left wordlessly. She slipped the dress on, admiring how it looked. The blouse hung off her shoulders and the beautiful blue skirt hung comfortably around her calves. These clothes smelled entirely different than the fresh pine ones she had smelled earlier. These clothes smelled more like summer air.

Wait. These obviously weren’t his clothes. So whose dress was this? She narrowed her eyes as she sniffed deeply. Now that she thought about it, he did smell oddly earthy. Her head spun with questions as she stumbled out of the room. She sniffed the air and shakily walked toward wherever the smell was coming from, supporting herself with the wall. It smelled nice and her stomach growled in response.

“Hi.” She mumbled towards him. He stood over what seemed to be a stove, stirring something in a pan. He didn’t seem to hear her and hummed something lightly as he shook strange colors into the pan. She watched as his magic flowed from his fingertips into the pan and it gently floated off to a set of bowls. He turned and saw her standing awkwardly. His eyes flicked over her approvingly before they narrowed annoyedly.

“Why didn’t you ask me to help you walk down here?” He frowned.

“I can walk.” She pursed her lips obstinately.

“Can you really, though?” He raised an eyebrow. “Come on.” He placed an arm around her back and led her to a chair. He lifted his fingers towards the stove and magically pulled the bowls of

soup towards them.

“Where did you get this from?” She asked inquisitively. “Did you steal this?”

“Steal? I do not steal. I grow all of my own food.”

“You grew all of this by yourself?”

“Well, do you know anyone who would sell fresh fruits to a man called ‘darkness’?” He asked sarcastically.

“You said Maurus wasn’t your name.”

“I did.”

“So… what is your name?”

“Does it matter? If no one should use it, no one should know it.”

“Well… what if I want to use it?”

“I suppose that would depend on how you want to use it.”

“Does the middle of the night count?” She smirked suggestively.

“Cute.” He deadpanned, turning away as his entire face flushed red. He bit his lip to encourage his face to return to its normal shade. His face did not want to listen.

“Cute enough to know your name?” She fluttered her eyelashes. He exhaled deeply, hoping his face had fixed itself before he turned back to her.

“If you want to know that badly, maybe I’ll tell you.” He grinned. “Or maybe I won’t.” She pouted at him. “No, I don’t think I’ll tell you just yet.” He decided.

“I’ll just presume your name is actually Maurus then.”

“Do you know what Maurus means?”

“…Evil?”

“What? No. I mean, I suppose on how you interpret it. It does mean ‘dark,’ but it also means more than that. Moor than that.” He giggled at his joke. It was at this moment that Felicity realized the boy in front of her was, in fact, a dork. “It means ‘Moorish,’ from lands far east of here. So until I become an Arabian, I doubt the name will be fully accurate, and I doubt that’s happening anytime soon.”

“Arabian?” For all she knew, there was nothing more than the island. She hadn’t ever considered other lands.

“Did you think this tiny island was all there was to the world? The world is so much larger than you could even comprehend!” Could that be why she was so different? Maybe she looked normal in some part of the world!

“So where did the name come from?”

“I assume you would know, because I certainly don’t, Sunny.”

“Don’t call me ‘Sunny.’”

“So what should I call you?”

“How about this? If I tell you my real name, you tell me yours. Deal?”

“And miss out on all this fun? Forgive me, but I think not, Sunny.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my gosh... someone's reading this... and thinks it's adorable... 🥰  
> Come say hi to me on Tumblr! little-boats-on-a-lake.tumblr.com (little-boats-on-a-lake)

Hannah Marie was convinced that her friend would be back any day now and she would hopefully have some reason for going missing for so long. “ _Oh, I needed to train with a mysterious master to defeat Maurus the Monstrous once and for all. I was just hurt when I went to go give Hedar a handmade dinner. I just got lost in the woods.”_ The old ladies’ rumors sounded more believable than that. Days of hearing the same news again and again were starting to get to her. Felicity couldn’t be a traitor or whatever else they were branding her. Hannah Marie knew her best friend better than she knew herself. There was no way that she could have been lying the whole time… right?

“Ms. Gabrelle, does your family know you’re here again?” Theodore rolled his eyes. It took a moment for her to snap back to reality. “Lost in your thoughts again?”

“Do you ever shut up, Theodore? If there isn’t any good coming out of your mouth, I’d suggest you close it.” Hannah Marie pored over dozens of scraps of paper at her usual place at her usual table.

“Watch your own mouth, Hannah.” Theodore continued to re-shelve his books, taking care to place each one in the correct order. 

“It's Hannah Marie and you know it.” She growled at him as she continued to sift through her stacks of records. There had to be some sort of incident like this before. Everyone had been singing Felicity’s praises merely days before, but this was a complete shift in attitude. Even if Felicity had gone wild, there had to have been a reason for her to do anything like this. Maybe some previous record could give her ideas for what happened.

“Hannah Marie, what are you even looking for?” Theodore leaned over to look at the various records scattered around her table. 

“Theodore, can I ask you something? Honestly?” Hannah Marie looked up at him desperately. 

“Of course, kid. What’s wrong?” Theodore furrowed his brows at her change in demeanor and sat down beside her.

“...Felicity-”

“Uh.” Theodore cut her off. He glanced around to ensure nobody was watching them, although nobody was there, before silently gesturing for Hannah Marie to follow him. He serenely walked over to the wall and pushed it in.

“Woah.” Hannah Marie brushed her fingertips along the hidden door. 

“I’ve been noticing some strange happenings going on for a few years now.” Theodore spoke in a hushed voice. Hannah Marie raised her eyebrows at his furtiveness- he almost seemed scared that somebody would see whatever he was about to show her. She glanced around at the strange room. The walls were almost covered in handwriting, drawings and string- lots of it.

“Theodore, what is this?” Hannah Marie’s eyes flitted wildly around the room. 

“Look at this.” Theodore pulled a large article off the wall and handed it to her. A pretty woman’s portrait gazed up at her; she was clearly not from around here. The woman’s unnatural green eyes seemed to bore right into her own.

“Who is this?”

“Leona Druerie. Nobody seems to know much about her, but I think I’ve pieced together most of what happened.”

“Wait, you did what? Why?”

“That- unimportant. We can discuss it later.”

“No, I want to talk about why you have th-”

“Leona used to live somewhere remote on our island some twenty years ago and she seemed to be well liked by everyone, but she went missing without a trace some eight years ago. Nobody seemed to question it, or even _remember_ her.”

“…Strange.”

“It doesn’t stop there. Leona clearly came from some other land, far away from here and it seems that foreigners used to come here often. So, why would they stop coming here? Where did she go?”

“Could she be dead?”

“Most likely,” Theodore’s voice caught in his throat. “But that brings up more questions. Leona Druerie… had magic.”

“Wait, magic? Like-”

“Yes, exactly!”

“So Felicity isn’t the only one?”

“On the contrary! If my research is correct, she’s one of many, many people who could use magic. And having magic is more than just pure luck!”

“Do you think whatever happened to Leona happened to Felicity?”

“I wouldn’t doubt it. But if we can figure out what exactly happened to Leona, we might be able to figure out what happened to Felicity.”

“Wait, hold on, you aren’t making any sense. How does this help us find Felicity?”

“Think about it, Han. If we can figure out where Leona Druerie went, we could follow that to find Felicity! And do we even know what happened to Felicity’s parents?”

“Do you… maybe this is something related to having magic?”

“Exactly! What do you think?”

“That’s a bit of a long shot, isn’t it?”

“It’s the only shot we’ve got.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how the heck are multiple people finding this??? But also, hi!!! I love you all!!!

“How are you feeling?” He asked, nudging her shoulder gently. “Do you think you can get up?”

She had nodded off and it seemed that the sun had just risen, if the sunlight beaming from the window was any indication. She nodded meekly.

“Good. You need a bath. Come on.” She raised an eyebrow at him as he deftly picked her up and carried her to a room with a tub and a large lever.

“You’re so eager to get me to take a bath. I’m sure I don’t smell that bad.” She croaked flirtingly.

“Someone finally feels like talking again.” He noticed as he pulled the lever, causing water to flow out a spout above the tub. Her eyes widened in shock as she ran her fingers under the warm water.

“How…?” She asked, filled with wonder.

“What, the water? Simple pressure system.” He replied offhandedly.

“Pressure system…” She murmured. “And it’s warm? How does it work?” She looked up at him with inquisitive eyes.

“Uh, the water is stored outside the house since it collects natural water.” He responded, taken aback by her interest. “I started a fire under the tank so it would heat up and when there’s any opening, the pressure from the heat causes it to rush out.”

“Incredible…” She mused, pressing her ear to the ground and hearing the rushing water. He gazed curiously at her as he yanked the lever, turning off the water.

“I have some spare clothes here for you and I’m going to go look for something that might fit you better.” He nodded at some clothes he had left on the ground and shut the door behind him. “I’m right out here, just yell if you need me.”

She tentatively slipped off her scruffy underclothes and the thick cloak. Her hands quivered at the sight of dark bruises and the faint dried blood. She slipped into the warm bath and scrubbed at every bit of blood on her skin. There wasn’t as much as she was expecting. Maurus must have washed off most of the blood. No one had ever done that for her before. Whenever she returned to the village after a fight, she had to care for any wounds herself. It was ironic. He had always been the one to give her pain, never to take it away. What could he be planning?

She carefully limped out of the bath. Her foot still couldn’t bear her weight, but she’d been through worse. Water dripped around her as she pulled the large shirt over her head. It hung loosely above her knees and smelled quite pleasant, like fresh earth.

“May I come in?” A voice came from beyond the door.

“Yep,” She called. He walked in, eyes fixed on the fabric he held. It was clearly important to him, judging by how he stared at it.

“So, I found some things in… oh.” He stopped entirely as he looked up at her. His eyes went wide and he nervously scratched the back of his neck. “You… uh…”

“…Are you okay?” She asked, smirking at his reaction.

“...Uh huh,” He had to admit, she looked awfully nice in his clothes with her damp hair. It brought his brain to a full, screeching stop.

“Oh, good, you found some other clothes!” She perked up, seeing the skirt and off white blouse he held. “This is nice!”

“Uh… good! Here!” He stuck out his arms and she took the clothes from his arms.

“You should probably leave.” She suggested slyly. “And close your mouth, you’re going to catch flies.” He left wordlessly, still attempting to form words on his way out.

She slipped the dress on. The blouse hung off her shoulders and the beautiful blue skirt hung comfortably around her calves. These clothes smelled entirely different than the fresh pine ones she had smelled earlier. These clothes smelled more like summer air. Wait. These obviously weren’t his clothes. So whose dress was this? She narrowed her eyes as she sniffed deeply. Now that she thought about it, he did smell oddly earthy.

Her head spun with questions as she stumbled out of the room. She sniffed the air and shakily walked toward wherever the smell was coming from, supporting herself with the wall. It smelled nice and her stomach growled in response.

“Hi.” She mumbled towards him. He stood over what seemed to be a stove, stirring something in a pan. He didn’t seem to hear her and hummed something lightly as he shook strange colors into the pan. She watched as his magic flowed from his fingertips into the pan and it gently floated off to a set of bowls. He turned and saw her standing awkwardly. His eyes flicked over her approvingly before they narrowed annoyedly.

“Why didn’t you ask me to help you walk down here?” He frowned.

“I can walk.” She pursed her lips obstinately.

“Can you really, though?” He raised an eyebrow. “Come on.” He placed an arm around her back and they limped to a chair. He lifted his fingers towards the stove and magically pulled the bowls of soup towards them.

“Where did you get this from?” She asked inquisitively. “Did you steal this?” He scoffed.

“Steal? I do not steal. I grow all of my own food.”

“You grew all of this by yourself?”

“Well, do you know anyone who would sell fresh fruits to a man called ‘darkness’?” He asked sarcastically.

“You said Maurus wasn’t your name.”

“I did.”

“So… what is your name?”

“Does it matter? If no one should use it, no one should know it.”

“Well… what if I want to use it?”

“I suppose that would depend on how you want to use it.”

“Does the middle of the night count?” She smirked suggestively.

“Cute.” He deadpanned, turning away as his entire face flushed red. He bit his lip to encourage his face to return to its normal shade.

His face did not want to listen.

“Cute enough to know your name?” She fluttered her eyelashes. He exhaled deeply, hoping his face had fixed itself before he turned back to her.

“If you want to know that badly, maybe I’ll tell you.” He grinned. “Or maybe I won’t.” She pouted at him. “No, I don’t think I’ll tell you just yet.” He decided.

“I’ll just presume your name is actually Maurus then.”

“Do you even know what Maurus means?”

“…Evil?”

“What? No. I mean, I suppose on how you interpret it. It does mean ‘dark,’ but it also means more than that. Moor than that.” He giggled at his joke.

It was at this moment that Felicity realized the boy in front of her was, in fact, a dork.

“It means ‘Moorish,’ from lands far east of here. So until I become an Arabian, I doubt the name will be fully accurate, and I doubt that’s happening anytime soon.”

“Arabian?” For all she knew, there was nothing more than the island. She hadn’t ever considered other lands.

“Did you think this tiny island was all there was to the world? The world is so much larger than you could even comprehend!” Could that be why she was so different? Maybe... she looked normal in some part of the world...

“So where did the name come from?”

“I assume you would know, because I certainly don’t, Sunny.”

“Don’t call me ‘Sunny.’”

“So what should I call you?”

“How about this? If I tell you my real name, you tell me yours. Deal?”

“And miss out on all this fun? Forgive me, but I think not, Sunny.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure Hannah Marie Gabrelle would be a much better "keeper of the books" than that nerd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How does this have 8 kudos??? How are you guys finding this??? I love you all???

Hannah Marie was convinced that her friend would be back any day now and she would hopefully have some reason for going missing for so long.

_“Oh, I needed to train with a mysterious master to defeat Maurus the Monstrous once and for all._

_I was just hurt when I went to go give Hedar a handmade dinner._

_I just got lost in the woods.”_

The old ladies’ rumors sounded more believable than that. Days of hearing the same news again and again were starting to get to her. Felicity couldn’t be a traitor or whatever else they were branding her. Hannah Marie knew her best friend better than she knew herself. There was no way that she could have been lying the whole time.

...Right?

“Ms. Gabrelle, does your family know you’re here again?” Theodore rolled his eyes. It took a moment for her to snap back to reality. “Lost in your thoughts again?”

“Do you ever shut up, Theodore? If there isn’t any good coming out of your mouth, I’d suggest you close it.” Hannah Marie pored over dozens of scraps of paper at her usual place at her usual table. Stupid bookkeeper. What reason did he have for being so smug? Just because he was old enough to work here and she wasn't. What a dinosaur. Being thirty sounded disgusting. No, thank you.

“Watch your own mouth, Hannah.” Theodore continued to re-shelve his books, taking care to place each one in the correct order.

“It’s Hannah Marie and you know it.” She growled at him as she continued to sift through her stacks of records.

There had to be some sort of incident like this before. Everyone had been singing Felicity’s praises merely days before, but this was a complete shift in attitude. Even if Felicity had gone... "wild", there had to have been a reason for her to do anything like this. There had to be _something_.

“Hannah Marie, what are you even looking for?” Theodore leaned over to look at the various records scattered around her table.

“Theodore, can I ask you something? Honestly?” Hannah Marie looked up at him. Theodore furrowed his brows at her change in demeanor and sat down beside her.

“Of course, kid. What’s wrong?” 

“…Felicity-”

“Uh.” Theodore cut her off. He glanced around to ensure nobody was watching them, although nobody was there, before silently gesturing for Hannah Marie to follow him. He walked over to the wall and _pushed it in?_

“Woah.” Hannah Marie brushed her fingertips along the hidden door. If he hadn't shown her, she would never have noticed it. Heck, she practically lived here, how had she never seen it before?

“I’ve been noticing some strange happenings going on for a few years now.” Theodore spoke in a hushed voice. He almost seemed scared that somebody would see whatever he was about to show her. She glanced around at the strange room. The walls were almost covered in handwriting, drawings and string- lots of it.

“Theodore, what is this?” Hannah Marie’s eyes flitted wildly around the room.

“Look at this.” Theodore pulled a large article off the wall and handed it to her. A pretty woman’s portrait gazed up at her; she was clearly not from around here. The woman’s unnatural green eyes seemed to bore right into her own.

“Who is this?”

“Leona Druerie. Nobody seems to know much about her, but I think I’ve pieced together most of what happened.”

“Wait, you did what? Why?”

“That- unimportant. We can discuss it later.”

“No, I want to talk about why you have th-”

“Leona used to live somewhere remote on our island some twenty years ago and she seemed to be well liked by everyone, but she went missing without a trace some eight years ago. Nobody seemed to question it, or even remember her.”

“…Strange.”

“It doesn’t stop there. Leona clearly came from some other land, far away from here and it seems that foreigners used to come here often. So, why would they stop coming here? Where did she go?”

“Could she be dead?”

“Most likely,” Theodore’s voice caught in his throat. “But that brings up more questions. Leona Druerie… had magic.”

“Wait, _magic_? Like-”

“Yes, exactly!” “So Felicity isn’t the only one?”

“On the contrary! If my theory is correct, she’s one of many, many people who could use magic. And having magic is more than just pure luck!”

“Do you think whatever happened to Leona happened to Felicity?”

“I wouldn’t doubt it. But if we can figure out what exactly happened to Leona, we might be able to figure out what happened to Felicity.”

“Wait, hold on, you aren’t making any sense. How does this help us find Felicity?”

“Think about it, Han. If we can figure out where Leona Druerie went, we could follow that to find Felicity! And do we even know what happened to Felicity’s parents?”

“Do you… maybe this is something related to having magic?”

“Exactly! What do you think?”

“That’s a bit of a long shot, isn’t it?”

“It’s the only shot we’ve got.”


	7. Chapter 7

“It looks so warm outside. Can’t I just ‘heal’ out there?” It had been a while since she had needed help walking. Her foot was almost completely healed, thanks to the healing powers of magic. She may not have understood it, but it helped her and that was all she needed to know.

“You have hypothermia, Sunny. I don’t want to risk it.” Not-Maurus pulled on his boots and laced them tightly. He still refused to tell her his actual name, mainly because of how much she wanted to know, so she settled for calling him without a name. He was so lucky he could just go outside like that. She was getting intense cabin fever—she had never gone this long without being active and it was driving her insane.

“Had. I had hypothermia. I feel perfectly fine now.”

“Well, I don’t.”

“Please?” She looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Please?”

As she had learned over the past however long she had been here, it was almost impossible for him to say no to her if she used the most pitiful look she could muster. For some reason, it didn’t work for his name, but it seemed to work for almost everything else.

“Nooo… Don’t look at me like that…” Aha. Right at his weak spot.

“Please?” He let out a strangled groan. He clearly didn’t want to, but what did she care about that?

“Fine. But if anything happens to you, I’m dragging you right back here and telling you that I told you so.” He relented. “But it’s only because I need to do some gardening anyway.”

“Gardening?”

“Well, I told you, didn’t I? I grow my own food. Come on now, up you get.” He slipped her boots on carefully and lifted her up. She draped her arm around his shoulder and they slowly limped to the back of the house.

“Oh, wow…” She gaped. Rows and rows of bright colors sprawled across a plane of grass that stretched on for what seemed like forever. Flowers spread across the green and she could spy animals resting inside different wooden structures spaced along the land. “Damn my stupid leg.”

“What? That… that’s the first thing you think of when you see this?”

“Well, yeah. If my leg was better, I could run all over this place! You even built in a running trail.”

“That’s just a design! I don’t want you running on pebbles!”

“You’re so old.”

“I am-! I am not old!"

“You are very old.”

“Just… sit on the porch, Sunny.”

“Old!”

“Sit!”

She plopped down by the edge of the seats and pouted as she glared at… Not-Maurus. She really had to find a better name for him. He was currently having what seemed to be the time of his life pulling up smelly onions from the ground. Wait… he was actually having fun with it, wasn’t he? He was genuinely smiling. Not just a smirk or a sarcastic grin like she had seen before. He was smiling. It was a bit jarring to see him like this.

Oh, _NO_. He wasn’t allowed to be attractive! He wasn’t supposed to be! Snap out of it, Felicity! You aren’t allowed to like him! Technically, she was still in a relationship with Hedar. There was never any real love there, especially since he tried to kill her, but it would still be cheating. Felicity Lovelace was many things, but a cheater was not one of them. Admiring another person wasn’t really cheating though, was it? She could still hypothetically appreciate how aesthetically nice Not-Maurus was. How nice those broad shoulders and toned arms were…

“Sunny?” His face was suddenly in front of hers and oh gosh was he undeniably attractive.

“Huh?”

Her face flushed with warmth as she stared at his eyes. They were very blue up close. They looked like the ocean, cool and comforting. By the Goddess, she loved the ocean. She loved standing in the sand and letting the water just sweep over her feet. The ocean was great. The thin scar under his eye only made the blue seem brighter. The scar she had given him…

“Sunstroke, of course you get sunstroke…” He murmured as his firm grip settled around her arms and swept her up. She had a vague feeling of being carried indoors and seated at the kitchen table.

“What are you doing?” He kept his arms firmly on her shoulders, spreading a magical chill through her body. It was a soothing type of cold sensation. Her head snapped out of its reverie. “What’s going on?”

“Apparently, you can’t be in the cold or the hot weather.” He pushed a glass of cold water towards her, keeping his eyes in a red book.

“Yes, I can.” She pursed her lips petulantly.

“No, you can’t. You got sunstroke from sitting outside.”

“I did not…” she began, but he wasn’t done talking.

“It was probably my fault, letting you be outside with all that heavy clothing. Especially when it’s so hot. Why didn’t you say anything earlier when it got too hot for you? We could have gone inside ages ago.”

“You’re rambling.” She observed. He tended to do that a lot. It was almost endearing.

“I do not _ramble_.” He stopped talking, quite clearly rambling.

“I do not have sunstroke.” She retorted.

“You’re incredibly warm, your skin is flushed, you could barely speak before I brought you inside and your heart rate was through the roof.” He looked her squarely in the eye, raising his eyebrow. It sounded more like an infatuation than heatstroke to her.

“Must be sunstroke.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Uncle, do you know who Leona Druerie was?” Hannah Marie burst into the house. The elderly man reading on the porch behind her put down his book, clearly annoyed.

“Leona Druerie? It’s been a long while since I’ve heard that name. Why do you want to know about her?”

“I just heard about her in…” She hesitated. Why would she have heard of a woman who went missing years ago anyway? “... a book.”

“A book.” He clearly didn’t believe her. Draven Gabrelle had been living with his niece since she was born. She was clearly lying to him. The question was… why? “Well, she lived somewhere near here a good few years ago. I’d say ten years or so.”

“How come I don’t remember her?”

“You were very young. I doubt you would remember.”

“So, I met her?”

“Where are these questions coming from?”

“Oh, come on, uncle, just tell me!”

“Yes, you met her. Back when your parents were still alive. You were fascinated with her black hair. Said you wanted hair like her.”

“Black?”

“It was apparently normal for wherever she was from. Back then, we used to be such a trading town. Ships would come in every day and every so often, we’d have strangers bring their bags here and settle down. She and her husband were the farthest travelers we’d ever seen.”

“She was married?”

“And had a little boy. They were such a happy family.”

“What happened to them?”

“I wish I could tell you.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Do you know you haven’t said anything but questions since you’ve come home? A _‘hello uncle, how was your day’_ would be very nice.”

“Uncle. What happened?” He gave a heavy sigh.

“Nobody knows.”

“What? How? People don’t just go missing!”

“They didn’t exactly live in the village. Nobody really knew where they lived. They just came into the village to buy things every so often and one day, they just stopped coming.”

“And you didn’t go look for them?”

“It wasn’t our place to do so. Now, are you done, or should I go get the record books?”

“I’m done.”

“Good. I’d advise you to stop poking around in mysteries. You may not like the answers you get.”

“What does that mean?”

“I think you know what I mean.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello frens it's nightmare time so please proceed with caution

The bonfire burned brightly on their faces. The smell of burning bodies was stifling but tolerating through it was the only respectable thing to do. After all, it was a hero’s funeral. Felicity had never been to a funeral before. Her parents may have died a few years ago, but she was much too young to remember that. After all, who brings a baby to a funeral? Probably the same people who bring babies to weddings.

Hannah Marie’s uncle stood to say a “few words.” It sounded important. Felicity was too distracted by the shiny sword he was gesturing at. It was just so pretty. He glanced over as her pudgy fingers reached out to touch the glittering hilt. He ignored it until he realized what exactly he saw. He lunged for her hand before it burned, but he was too late. Felicity had already gotten a firm grasp on the sword larger than her entire body. Shimmering light weaved from her fingers around the hilt and up the blade as whispering murmurs rose up from around the people. 

Felicity’s face bloomed into a large smile. She had done a good thing, right? The crowd’s leering whispers darkened and they all seemed to be staring- no, not staring- _glaring_ at her. They were mad at her. Why were they mad at her? She did everything right! Why were they angry at her? Why were they scared of her? What did she do wrong? Their faces all blurred together into one screaming face. Why did you betray us? Why would you hurt us? Why did you do this?

“I didn’t do anything!” She tried to scream against the harsh winds. Their taunts and blame drowned her out. She dropped to her knees, letting the screeching flood her ears. Hot tears stung and echoed shatteringly as they dropped on the blade. She stared down at her reflection in the blade. It wasn’t a little girl staring back at her. It was a hideous beast- sharp fangs dripping with blood, gory and reddened eyes, stony and gravelly skin. “I’m sorry.” She whimpered. “I’m so sorry.”

She jolted with a sharp gasp. She tried to pace her breathing. In… and out. In… and out. Calm, slow, deep breaths. It was just a nightmare. Just a nightmare. She flopped back onto her pillow, tapping her fingers slowly to keep time with her breaths. Nope. No use in trying to go back to sleep. She stretched out her legs and found herself stumbling through the dark halls. She wandered about, not sure what she was looking for. The faint glow of a candle caught her eye and she ambled towards it to find Not-Maurus lying in bed, slowly turning the pages of a book. He yawned and saw her standing in the doorway. 

“Sunny? Are you okay?” He yawned again as he ran a hand through his hair. 

She chuckled slightly at his disheveled hair. It looked so soft and nice to-NO. This was her archnemesis, not some random boy! But… he wasn’t quite her nemesis anymore, was he? So, what was he now? A friend? Not quite. But an enemy? Definitely not. 

“What are you doing?”.

“I… I couldn’t sleep.” She lied. Well, it wasn’t totally a lie. It was partially true! She peered curiously into his room. She hadn’t really seen it before. Books were crammed along each available area and random plants in small pots were scattered around the room. The faint candlelight made the whole room seem soft and welcoming. 

“Do you want to come in?” He asked, dropping his sarcastic and judgmental tone. She nodded mutely. “Come on, then.” She crawled up next to him and looked over his shoulder at the book he held in his hands.

“What are you reading?”

“You won’t judge?”

“I promise.”

“...it’s a romance novel.”

She choked back a laugh.

“You read _romance_ novels?”

“You promised you wouldn’t judge!” He pouted.

_Oh._

So _that’s_ why her sad face was so effective.  


“Who said anything about judging? I’m not judging you. I’m just surprised.”

“You should know this is one of my favorite books, Sunny.” 

“Really?”

“I like the idea of love. It’s inspiring.”

“Would you read it for me?” 

“…Of course.” He cleared his throat and began to narrate.

_“‘Adam plucked fresh flowers from the lakeside that morning. Each bud bowed its head in respect and adoration of his love, but Isabelle would not accept his flowers._

_‘You need not keep up this farce.’ She said. ‘I do not know why anyone would love me, for I am the ugliest woman I have ever seen. Even I cannot love me.’_

_‘Isabelle, I love more than I can see.’ Adam replied. ‘And from more than I see, you are the most beautiful woman I could ever imagine.’ Adam moved to hold her hand, but Isabelle withdrew from him and turned away._

_‘I could not believe you if I wanted.’ She whispered. ‘Why would you love me?’_

_‘I love you because you are so different. You are kind and you are loving. You make me want to be a better person.’_

_‘I want to believe you, but I could never. I know you must be lying. Leave me, before it is too late!’”_

“Wow,” she murmured. He almost jumped. He had been so caught up in reading aloud, he hadn’t noticed when she had snuggled up under his arm. He still wasn’t used to physical touches. She would reach out and touch him sometimes, just to show him something or to get his attention. Each touch was a strange type of spark, but this felt so natural, as if it was always meant to be this way. The thrill racing down his spine was like an exciting new flavor or running faster than ever before. He decided that he quite liked this, even if he would never admit it out loud. 

* * *

She awoke first the next morning. Her eyes creaked open to find a book still in his hand and his lips mumbling about some incoherent nonsense. His head rested against the top of hers and his hand was woven within the strands of her hair. She sighed happily as she nestled back into a comfortable lull, listening to the steady beat of his heart and the vague babble. What would the fun of waking him be like compared to the fun of letting him wake up and apologize profusely for being absolutely adorable? She grinned wickedly as she imagined his shy and blushing face. What a sight to behold.

He woke up not soon after. She pretended to be sound asleep as she could practically feel him blush. He mentally panicked. If she had been a mind reader, she would have heard incomprehensible screaming. She bit her cheek to keep from laughing as she looked up at him.

“Hey,” she murmured as seductively as she could. “Last night was amazing.” It took every bit of self-control in her not to laugh at how flustered he was.

“I...last night?” He stammered awkwardly, his face flushing red. “I… I don’t…”

“What?” She smirked, lazily drawing a finger across his chest. “You don’t remember...us?” 

“Uh...us?” He gulped nervously.

“You, me…” She batted her lashes. ”and this book?”

“The… the book?” He looked so confused and scared.

“Of course,” she bit back a laugh. “You read _so_ amazingly. What did you think I was talking about?” She asked, feigning innocence.

“I, uh…” He got up and tried to get up from the bed. “Breakfast?” He yelped as his leg tangled in the sheet and flung him onto the ground.

“Are you okay?” She asked, leaning over to check on him.

“Yep!” He squeaked, a dark blush rising in his face. He all but ran off to the kitchen. She doubled over in a peal of giggles. He was so cute, especially when he stammered and blushed like that. WAIT. She couldn’t deny that he was cute and attractive. But they could never be together. She wasn’t here for forever and he would want her to leave someday. But for now, someday could wait.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 13 kudos you guys?🥰 I'm still in shock Please be careful reading this, mention of a panic attack below.

That would have been the end of it if she had learned to sleep properly. She had never been good at learning. She must have been in bed for hours, but sleep felt more than a bit elusive. She could go to Not-Maurus again and ask if he would read to her again, but that was too awkward to go ask for. What would she even say? No, it would be better to just go for a quick walk around the house until she got tired out. What could go wrong with an innocent walk?

As it turns out, a lot. A lot could go very wrong with an innocent walk. Felicity had barely made it from her room when she heard faint gasping. Against her better instincts, she followed it to the kitchen. The faint moonlight outlined Not-Maurus haphazardly collapsed against a wall. At first glance, it seemed like he was just staring off into the distance.

“Are you okay?” She asked, a little freaked out. He didn’t respond. He didn’t even seem to hear her. She knelt down next to him and noticed he was trembling, and his chest was heaving, forcing air out of his body. “Wh- what’s going on?” 

She hesitantly pulled his hands off the floor and his breath hitched for just a moment as his hand jerked back. His hand found its way back to hers and Felicity began to take deep breaths, running her thumbs in time with her breath over his palms. It took a few seconds for him to follow along, but his breath eventually began to follow along with hers. 

“He-hey.” His voice was shaky and a little hoarse. He moved his head in just the slightest to look at her. He looked exhausted but in much better shape than before. She sat down next to him, still holding one of his hands. 

“What just happened?”

“’m not sure.” He slurred, dropping his head on her shoulder. 

“Are you okay?”

“...yeah.”

“Do you want to just sit here for a bit?” She felt his head nod against her shoulder. “Okay. We can sit here. Would you feel better if I talked about something?” Another nod. “Okay.” So, she did. 

She rambled on and on about the most random things she could think of. She focused on his hand the whole time she was talking. It was much larger than her own, but it was nice to hold, especially as it slowly steadied. She didn’t even notice when he fell asleep on her. She felt herself tense up against him for a second. 

It was only for a second. Why did she hesitate like that? No matter what had happened in the past, it was becoming obvious that everything was not as she had thought. Even so, he was clearly just a boy in need of whatever help she could give him. He wasn’t as stoic as he tried to seem. When Felicity had first showed up at his house, he had tried to pretend he was a sulky and disgruntled adult. However, it hadn’t taken long for her to figure out that he was actually a very soft-hearted boy who tried (and failed) to pretend he wasn’t. She couldn’t figure out why exactly.

She absentmindedly traced circles on his hand. It was such a simple action but it was also so strangely intimate. He wasn’t as evil as she thought. He was kind and sweet, but he was also scared. He was significantly taller than her, but he felt so much smaller like this. So tiny. So smol. In that moment, she knew she could never try to hurt him again. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness, 15 kudos??? I'm so shocked and surprised but ahhhhhhh thank you all so much!!!
> 
> trigger warning, description of a panic attack

Waking up was not a pleasant experience, especially after whatever had happened last night. He had gotten relatively used to those. They had started when he was much younger and didn’t seem to have an end date in sight. However, last night had been a bit of a surprise. Even after so many years, _it_ still managed to surprise him.

He hated it.

Typically, it built up over the day and tended to tip over before the evening, so he could plan for them and wait it out, preferably on the ground with his heavy blanket, all alone in the quiet. Don’t ask why it worked, it just did. He hadn’t even noticed anything out of the ordinary during the day, but _it_ had started slowly in the midde of the night, feeling like dozens of spiders poking through his back, through his feet, through his hands. A short walk around the house should have cleared it up.

Apparently, he hadn’t stacked the pans properly and _it_ decided that would be the perfect time to practically shove him against a wall.

Okay, sure, it just fell but the sudden sound still grabbed him and wrenched all feeling right out of his legs.

In all honesty, he _had_ felt it earlier in the day. Being around Sunny helped him… ignore it. Maybe it was just something about his isolation that was causing this. It wasn’t too much of a surprise when he actually _noticed_ it was happening again when Sunny was in front of him. His head was spinning too fast to think properly, so he just had to trust his instincts. His instincts seemed to like how warm she was and how her voice sounded like it was almost singing. When she held his hand, he could feel how he physically relaxed against her. As if he was just a rag doll and all the tense muscles in his body were cut by a string.

It would have been the perfect opportunity for her to strike if she was going to. He wouldn’t have fought back. He wouldn’t have been able to. Her touch had almost completely paralyzed him. She could have killed him right then and there. But she didn’t. She held him and she _stayed_.

Waking up was extremely unpleasant, mostly because he just didn’t want to. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so comfortable, even in his own home. The chirping of birds outside and warm rays of sunshine streaming over his face meant that it was probably morning, but you never know. The sun is a very tricky thing. It could easily be too early to even think of getting up. Yes, of course, it made perfect sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if this was uncomfortable for anyone to read. It’s all based off of things I’ve experienced with my anxiety/panic attacks, almost word for word, so I understand if it’s a bit much for anyone.


	12. Chapter 12

Felicity would have loved to sleep longer against the wall on the hard kitchen floor. She really would have.

But, of course, Felicity rose with the sun and today was no exception.

Even if today, Maurus the Monstrous was snuggled up against her, holding her hand like a lifeline.

It was strange how he used to flinch at first when she touched him. She doubted she had actually burned him, but you could never be too sure. Felicity had surmised that he just wasn’t used to being held or touched like this. Even if she didn’t have a family of her own, she had never been completely alone. At least her best friend would hug her when she was sad. She couldn't imagine never having been touched by another person. He probably didn't even know what it was like to be held. 

“ _Mère_ ,” he mumbled. “ _Tu me manques_.” She had noticed that the other night when she had fallen asleep in his arms. He talked in his sleep. Sometimes he spoke words she understood combined with whatever else he was saying.

Mère. It sounded familiar. Maybe Theodore back in the village would know what it meant. He was always going on and on about ethymology or whatnot. Had Hannah Marie been closer to his age, Felicity would have pushed for them to be an item and feared for their children, who would clearly take over the world if given the chance. She could only thank the Goddess above that Hannah Marie and Theodore would never be a couple.

Hannah Marie. She was probably wondering where Felicity was. She hadn’t seen Hannah Marie in so long. Was she okay? Did the High Tribunal declare something to be wrong with her just because she was friends with Felicity?

No. Bad thoughts away. Bad thoughts away. Hannah Marie would be fine. After all, Draven led the High Tribunal and he loved nothing more than his young niece. He would never let anything happen to her. Then again, Felicity thought he cared for her like he cared for Hannah Marie. Like another daughter. Yet here she was, so far away from the place she knew as home. This new place had started to feel more like a home than that town ever had. He had started to feel like home, like a safe place to retreat to. And he was supposed to be her enemy.

How the times had changed.


	13. Chapter 13

They had an unspoken agreement to sleep together. 

Wait, no, not like that. 

It was strange to say the least, but she tended to have less nightmares around him and he calmed down faster around her after his “episodes”. Neither of them knew how to explain it. Neither of them really wanted to. All they knew was that sleeping in the same bed resulted in better sleep, so cuddling was just a necessary evil for both of their comforts.

Even if they wouldn’t admit how much they enjoyed it.

They settled into an unexpected routine. He would wake up early to bake bread while Felicity tried to help, but would fall asleep trying. She would wake up by the time he had made breakfast and they would eat, maybe work on a little new invention or bind a new book afterwards.

Once it was warm enough, they would head out to the garden and harvest what had grown enough to be picked. Some of it would be kept for making dinner, but most of it went to be preserved. He had stocked enough for weeks to come, but he insisted on doing something, lest they fall into _(gasp)_ laziness.

He would start dinner and once she had finally mastered _the look_ , he begrudgingly allowed Felicity to chop and slice and dice to her heart’s desire. She loved using a knife. It was fun. She could tell he hated not being completely in control over the cooking, but it was fun making their meals together. At least, she hoped he found it fun. Because she totally didn’t. At all. 

After dinner _(who knew just plants could make such delicious dishes?)_ , they would curl up on the couch and just talk until she insisted it was time for him to sleep. No, it was not time to tinker with something new. No, it was not time to write a new story. Maybe just one diary entry. It was time to sleep, she commanded as she dragged him to their room.

His room.

Not theirs.

Slip of the tongue. 

…Even if she did like the idea of the room being _theirs_. 

It was oddly domestic.

And she didn’t mind.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 15 kudos??? Oh my goodness where are you people coming from I love each and every single one of you thank you so much!!!

Their weird routine often included weird little conversations. Sometimes Felicity would ask something. Sometimes it would be Not-Maurus. Who still refused to tell Felicity his name. Not that she hadn’t tried. Because she did. Many times.

At this point, she was beginning to think he didn’t even have a name and was just pretending he did to spite her.

“Do you know why we used to be enemies?” Felicity blurted out one morning. Not-Maurus almost sliced his hand. What kind of a question was that? He was just getting used to her questions about why onions were better chopped vertically or horizontally, even though she had no idea what the difference was.

“You’ve been sitting on that one for a while, I presume?”

“No….” she trailed off. “Yes. I _know_ I probably shouldn’t ask, but I just can’t help it. _Why?_ ”

“I don’t know, Sunny.”

“What? How can you not know?”

“All I know is it took me years to stop being angry at everything. Once I did, I stopped having blackouts and I stopped… finding myself fighting you.”

“That makes no sense. Magic doesn’t work that way.”

“Oh, really? And what do you know about magic?” To prove his point, he yanked the chair she was currently seated in over with a quick gesture of his hand.

Felicity had noticed the little things he did with magic. She noticed that he tended to avoid it unless it was almost an automatic reaction to use magic, like to light his candles or wrestle particularly rough weeds out of the ground. He had never used his magic to do anything that _cool_ before.

“You can use magic? Just like that?” She was dumbfounded by how weightless she felt flying across the floor like that.

“Of course. Can’t you?”

“No? I don’t have my sword.”

“You… your sword?” He held back a laugh. “Your magic doesn’t come from your sword.”

“Of course, it does. I was chosen by the sword to use its power to protect the village, just like all the heroes before me.”

That was the wrong thing to say.

The laughter drained from his face.

“And I’m sorry you had to do that.” He murmured, looking down at his hands. Why did he look so ashamed about th…

Oh. She had almost forgotten. For one magical moment, she had forgotten. She chose to ignore the past but it didn’t mean she had forgotten whatever he had done. But for a moment, Maurus the Monstrous and the man who stood before her were two entirely separate beings.

“But magic doesn’t come from an object.” He continued, still not looking at her. “It comes from inside you. It’s like a fire that burns inside and pushes itself out as energy.”

“Can you teach me how to do it?” Felicity asked eagerly. Maybe that would clear whatever strange tension was happening right now.

His head snapped up and his eyes widened, as if he was scared. Why would he be scared of that? He sucked in a breath, as if he were going to say something, but decided against it.

“I can try.”

He had insisted they go outside, just in case anything happened. There would be no broken plates in his house today. So here they were. Yep. Just the two of them, sitting on the ground and meditating.

“I don’t think this is working.” She was starting to get annoyed. What did magic have to do with _breathing_?

“It has everything to do with breathing, Sunny.” Wait, did she say that out loud? “I know that’s what you were thinking. It’s written all over your face.”

Oh, good. He was staring at her face. Why did that make her chest flutter like that? She rolled her eyes as she tried to focus on her breathing. She paid attention to the air entering through her nose, traveling down into her chest, and gently leaving through her mouth. Again, and again and again. And again.

“Nope.” She opened her eyes and stretched out her legs. They were starting to cramp up from sitting like this.

“You said you wanted to learn how to use magic. This is how you learn.”

“This meditation and focusing stuff might work for you, but I can tell you this isn’t going to work for me.” To her surprise, he didn’t seem to be getting mad. He rubbed his lip with his thumb, thinking about what she just said.

“Do you remember how you learned to use magic with your sword?”

“It wasn’t so much ‘learn’ as figure out as I went.”

Where was he going with this? He let out a deep breath. Felicity had learned that meant he was about to say something he really didn’t want to.

“I don’t remember much about… attacking your village.” From what she had picked up, he barely liked _thinking_ about being a magical terrorist hell-bent on burning people to death. “But I do remember bits of when you first started using magic. It manifested with your sword because that’s where you were focusing it.”

“How can you remember that? That was almost ten years ago.”

“Why do you think I call you ‘Sunny’? That moment when I first saw you, it felt like I was looking at pure rays of sunshine.” He started fidgeting with his hands again as he realized what he said. “Because of your magic, I mean! Not… no other reason!”

Oh.

Wow.

That was…

That was honestly the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her.

“That… that’s really nice of you to say.” She looked down at her hands, feeling her face warm from such an indirect compliment.”

“Are you… are you blushing?”

“What? Of course not!”

“…I’ll be sure to compliment you more often, then.” He grinned.

What a smug grin. She wanted to kiss it right off.

_She wanted to what?_

No, stop. Bad Felicity. If she wasn’t blushing earlier, she probably was now. Thank the stars above for her dark skin.

“Okay, you know what? We can take a break. Let’s just go inside and relax for a few minutes.” He unfolded his legs and bounced up. He headed toward the house when he noticed she wasn’t moving. “Well? Are you coming, or do you need an invitation?”

He held his hand out to her. A shiver ran up her arm as she took his hand.

They ran toward their house together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regular update schedule? Don't know her


	15. Chapter 15

They were gasping for air when they reached the house, but there was no way either of them would back down from a challenge to race. It was also strangely fun to sprint while holding someone’s hand. Someone’s warm and comforting hand…

“So who is Maurus the Monstrous?”

Felicity asked, biting into a slice of bread. They were sitting at the table, taking a “quick break” that had turned into lunch. She wasn’t complaining. Maybe she could do magic better without an empty stomach.

“Back to this, are we?”

“I don’t know, I was just thinking about it. I mean, maybe you use his magic somehow?”

“So you think he just… possesses my body?” He stopped to think for a second. “That does actually make sense. But I do remember some things from… being him.”

“So maybe it’s like a… negative manifestation of your magic.”

He didn’t need to know she just made up those words on the spot. It fit well enough.

“Who knows? Do we really need to address it right now?”

“Well, in case he comes back, I should know how to protect us, right?”

“Protect us, huh?” He liked the sound of that. _Wait a second-_ “Are you… are you worried I’m going to hurt you?”

“Well, yeah. If you don’t know how to control Maurus, how do we know he won’t ‘take over’ you again?”

She had meant it as an actual question.

The silence was deafening.

She glanced over at him. He was doing that thing again where he talked to his hands instead of her, but he wasn’t saying a word. _Oh, shi-_

“So you do think I’m dangerous,” he whispered, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“No, no, no! Not in that way! I know you would never hurt me!”

“It’s okay.” He was still quietly addressing his hands. “I know you didn’t mean it like that.”

“That’s just it. I… I _know_ you would never hurt me. You… _you never did_.” Realization hit her like a slap in the face. “I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

“What?” He looked up at her.

Her tone of voice had changed and it was strange to hear. It wasn’t bright and chipper or sarcastic or flirty. It was ()

“This was never about you, was it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Me and you, fighting this whole time. I thought you were wrong, and I was right, but neither of us were ever fighting each other! I was… I was being _used_! They _used_ me like I was… some kind of a weapon!”

Things started trembling and rattling around her. He didn’t miss how her hands trembled in time with them. He eyed them nervously. She had never used magic like that before.

He knew all too well how magic could lash out when you lost control of your emotions.

“Calm down, Sunny.” He attempted to hold her hands, a meager attempt to calm her down, but she yanked her hands away.

Was the floor always this tilted? 

“I… I was wrong this whole time! I don’t even know why I had to fight you!”

“Sunny, how about we just relax a bit and talk about this calmly?”

“Calm?” Her eyes were wide and wild. “I… This isn’t a calm ‘let’s talk about this’ time.”

“You… you’re scaring me.” Yeah, he was scared. Scared for _her_.

And also his own safety. But that was irrelevant.

“Oh, I scare you?” She asked sarcastically. “Good, you should be scared. That’s what they want anyway, right? I’m terrifying!”

Magic flashed through the house in a dark red light and all of the hovering started to whip around them violently. The force of the tempest she was creating made it hard to stay on the ground. If she didn’t calm down soon, they would both be ripped apart by the storm.

“Sunny, please take deep breaths with me and calm down, or else I’m going to have to do something I really don’t want to.” He shouted over the wind. She turned her rage-filled gaze to him, hair whipping wildly behind her and tears racing down her face.

“Do what? I… I’m a freak! I was built for pain! Come on, hit me with your best shot!”

“I am so sorry.”

Drastic times call for drastic measures.

He plucked a frying pan whizzing around from the air and closed his eyes.

 _CLANG_.

Her entire body slumped along with everything that crashed to the floor in a loud cacophony. That was probably a very stupid idea, but it was an idea and that was a start.

“I probably could have handled that better.” He murmured as he carried her over to the couch.

He stopped in his tracks.

Blood.

There was blood on his hand where he held her.

Normal wounds were typically fine and could heal themselves, but an untreated head wound could be dangerous.

He let out a deep breath as magic flowed from his hand into her head. The cost of healing magic was much higher than the magic needed for simpler spells. A vise-like grip clenched around his chest, forcing all of the air out of his lungs. Slow and steady breaths. Slow and steady. _Slow and steady, damnit_. This wasn’t going to work unless his hands stopped shaking.

Nope. Not the time for that. She got hurt because of him so this was more than fair. Steady hands now. A faint light flowed from his hand into the swelling lump on her head, which quickly closed up and smoothed over. 

He sat back on his heels. What had he _done_? Even if he managed to fix it, he still hurt Sunny. What was wrong with him? Why would he do that? He really was a monster if he could hurt her just like that. Even though he knew he had technically hurt her before, he had never meant to. It was almost as if someone was controlling his actions and he was just watching from inside his own head. This… this was him controlling his own actions. And it was _horrible_.

“I’m so sorry, Sunny.” He lay his head on his crossed arms, facing her. She looked innocent and peaceful, just as she did when she was sleeping. He reached out to stroke her dark curls and chuckled softly. “I should have figured you wouldn’t be one for meditation.”

“’S not your fault.” She slurred. He almost jumped back. Her eyes fluttered open, staring right into his. “I’m just too hot to handle.”

“That didn’t even make sense.” He let out a broken laugh, quickly wiping his eyes.

“Didn’t have to. It’s still true.” Sunny croaked out in a hoarse voice, lighting up the whole room with her bright smile.

It was so fake.

“I should have guessed you would learn to use magic in spite.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let myself get so worked up.”

“It wasn’t your fault either. I think you were so frustrated with magic not working for you, so realizing… whatever that was just…”

“Set off everything?” She finished his sentence. She hummed lightly, thinking about it. “I guess. I think I just needed to get all of that out.” She turned over, hiding herself as best as she could in the couch. “I’m still mad about what happened. I didn’t do anything wrong. I never did. I followed all the rules.”

“I know, sunshine. It’s not your fault. I think it was just because you had all these emotions… bottled inside you. I should have said something. You know you can always tell me anything, right?”

She peeked over her arm to see him looking at her with… sympathy? No, that wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t a familiar emotion. He looked at her as if she was something precious and special, even if she had just wrecked their home in a mental breakdown. It was a soft and warm type of feeling, not a harsh cold she had gotten so used to.

Soft and warm.

Like him.

She liked soft and warm.

“I really am sorry.”

“It’s okay. You know what this means? Now that you know how to use your powers, I can start teaching you how to use magic!”

“Really?”

“Yeah. And we’ll break lots of plates to teach you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: mention of past self harming and urge to self harm

He had to wake up.

It was just a nightmare.

It was okay.

It would all be over soon.

Just wake up.

Wake up!

_Wake up!_

He sat up with a jolt, trembling. Ugh. Not that nightmare again. He hadn't seen it in so long. He would have loved to never see it again. He glanced behind him, but Sunny was still fast asleep, even if her hand was still firmly gripped on his shirt. He sighed as he pried her fingers off. Did she think he was going to run away and one morning, just not be there? Who knew. He certainly wasn't going to ask.

Stretching out his arms, he climbed out of bed. It was just too warm. _Mére! Fire!_ Not that there was a problem with being warm. _Run, get as far away as you can!_ He really just didn't need that right now.

Oh gods, he _needed_ to get rid of that horrible screeching sound in his head. He clapped his hands over his ears and stumbled around, gentle blue flames licking at his ears to light up his surroundings.

 _This is a stupid idea. A very stupid idea._ He was practically screaming at himself. _Stay near Sunny. Don't be stupid. Don't be stupid. Don't be-_ the glint of the knife on the table caught his eye and his breath.

He was in the kitchen. Again. Not surprising, considering how much time he spent in here.

It almost seemed to call to him. He could almost feel the sharp rasp of the blade just by looking at it. He couldn't even pry his eyes away from it.

Like that princess in the story with her spinning wheel, the pointed edge called him by name (if he even had one anymore) and begged, no, _pleaded_ to be held taut against his skin until red lines welled up again and spilled out in every direction fathomable.

Sometimes, he was surprised his blood was red. It was such a vibrant and beautiful hue. It was strange to think that anything coming from him could be beautiful. He expected his own life force to be pitch dark and cloudy, like he honestly expected himself to be.

He hadn't moved one inch since stepping foot into the kitchen.

 _No. Please don't do this again. You want to live. Please, you have to live!_ He ignored the voice in his head like always. It never helped him, anyway. _Please, for her. Don't do it. For her._

His shaking hand stopped as it reached out to the table.

_Sunny._

Goddess above, _what_ would she think of this? She would run away screaming if he somehow succeeded this time. He couldn't do that to her. What kind of a monster was he? Hurting her physically wasn't enough? He had to mentally scar her even more?

A broken sob fell from his mouth as his knees hit the ground. And another. And another. He pressed a hand against his lips to stifle his incessant sniveling, but it only became worse. His entire body, wracked with unheard sobs, shuddered.

 _What_ was he about to do?

 _You were doing so well._ His inner voice chided him. _You've got responsibilities now. You have someone depending on you now. And you were about to let her down like this?_

He really was a monster.

The cold chill raced in the grass and brushed against his legs. The garden was really beautiful this late at night. The glow of the moon seemed to make the whole cliffside ethereal. Sitting in the middle of a field of grass didn't seem quite ethereal to match that, but it was still serene and quiet.

Gods, he hated the quiet.

He mentioned the gods more today than he had in the whole month. It was strange, considering his relationship with religion. He certainly didn't do anything to acknowledge their existence. They were more his mother's gods, not his own. They never wanted to help him. If anything, they seemed determined to hurt him even more. Religion was pointless.

Mére would be disappointed in him. She thanked the Goddess Above every morning when she awoke and every night before she slept. What for, he had asked her so many times. Papa was still not home yet and she was always waiting for him. Thank the goddess for keeping us alive! She would say. "For the little blessings and happinesses she gives us! " and then she would held his face in her hands and kiss his forehead softly. "And for you, moonbeam. She blessed me with such a beautiful gift as you."

Gift? Hah. More like a curse.

"I wish you were here, Mére. I miss you everyday." He stared up at the stars, lying back on the soft grass.

His books would say all these things about how the dead lived on as stars and their bodies would all turn into stardust when the time had come. Whether it was true or not, it was still a nice way to remind himself of his mother. He had cried himself to sleep once he realized he no longer remembered the broke his promise a month later when he couldn't remember the color of her eyes.

"I wish you knew how to help Sunny. I try, Mére. But sometimes, I just don't know how to help her. You would love her, she's so... She's just amazing. She deserves better than I can give her. But I don't know what else to do. I don't know who else would help her. And I... I _hurt_ her."

He paused, as if he was expecting the skies to open up and his mother would give him advice about girls.

Like all the times before, she stayed silent.

''Maybe the best thing for her is to leave the island. Just because I can't doesn't mean she won't be able to." He let out a deep sigh. "But I can't rely on that. I guess I just have to stick around for her."

If he listened hard enough, maybe one of these days, he would hear his mother and she would tell him how to make things better again. For now, he would have to be satisfied with the soft chirping bugs and the sound of the gentle winds carressing the world around him.

"Thanks, Mére. Nice talk." He murmured, determined to make his way back to the warm safety of home. 


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Potential tw: reference to self harm urges

He just didn't feel like going back to sleep. He doubted he even could if he wanted to. It would be better to just get a start on the day's work.

The weather was starting to change again. The harvest work was almost done. Sunny was so fast at it and she seemed to enjoy it. Except for the corn. They both _hated_ corn.

The little fawn who had broken his leg seemed to enjoy corn. Gently petting the fawn's head, he cracked a small smile as the tiny creature eagerly nibbled at his hand.

As if it could somehow sense his tension, the fawn stared at him before gently setting his head over the wisps of hair resting on his shoulder and licked at his ear. He giggled, a light and airy sound he doubted actually came from him.

"You're a friendly little one, aren't you?" He leaned against the little deer, feeling a quick heartbeat against his own. "Your leg healed ages ago. So why haven't you gone home yet?"

The fawn walked away from him and knelt down, resting against the soft place he had made for any of the creatures who needed help. It looked at him, as if to say, "What do you mean? I'm right at home."

Something flashed in his eyes as he realized he had never seen Sunny smile before as much as he had over the past month. Yes, he wasn't perfect and yes, he accidentally hurt her but they had both apologized profusely, even though she really didn't need to. Could she grow to love their home together like this little fawn had? A strange giddiness bubbled up in his chest as he imagined a life they could have together. He may not have had many things but he was happy. Maybe the two of them could be happy... together?

He left the fawn in his little shed with a quick scratch behind the ears and hiked back to the center around which his life was centered. And also the pantry. Today was bread day and the sun had only just risen. He may not have loved himself but he sure loved baking bread and that was enough for now.

The way the dough stretched out and wound itself around his fingers was a comfortable and familiar memory. Just like how Sunny would reach out and grab his hand when she dragged him to sleep at night. Not the time for that now-

"Not the time for what?"

He jumped back, arms held defensively in front of his dough. A laughter that chimed like a warm beam of sunshine drew his attention.

"How... how long have you been standing there!?" He didn't mean to scream. But sometimes, a grown man just needs to scream to defend his bread from evil invaders who come to damage the bread.

It was so adorable when he got flustered like that. Felicity brushed off a small bit of flour that had found its way onto his forehead.

"Relax, silly. I live here too, you know?"

"I... uh, you-" He stammered, trying to enunciate his words with sticky hands.

"Calm down!" She pushed herself up to sit on top of the edge of the table and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Wait, what are you-"

"Shhh. I'm tired and your shoulder is comfortable."

"You- you can't just!"

"I'm sleeping, you can't just disturb a sleeping person." She leaned in towards his neck.

He could feel her warm breath ghosting over his skin. It sent shivers racing down his spine, but a bubbly warmth rose up in his chest again. He thought it was going to rush out in an endless stream of words he wasn't quite ready to say yet. The only word that came to his mind was yours.

He was. He really was. He wasn't quite sure what exactly Sunny had done to capture his heart and soul like this, but if she asked for it, he would give it to her. Even if she would probably break it a million times over. He would give her everything he had.

What was it about her smile that made him feel like the world would last another day just because it was so beautiful? Why did every one of her freckles match a beauty he thought belonged only to stars in the endless night sky. He look over at her and he was reminded of how the sharp knife had caught his breath last night. Where it was sharp, she was soft, sleepy smiles and gripped hands. Where the blade was dangerous, she was a source of comfort, warm nights with warm words and even warmer touches that held them through until the morning. How could he have ever thought the two were the same when they were so different in every way? Her eyes, endless pools of an abyss he could stare into for days, held so much emotion it hurt just to look at it. They quirked up, asking what he was doing, and it felt like the world itself dropped from beneath his feet. What was the world anymore, if he could comp-

"Your hair is getting so long." She murmured, interrupting his trance. Sunny reached for a particularly long strand and lazily twirled it around her finger. He almost reached for it self-consciously until he remembered the dough covering his fingers. The dough! He was baking bread! Not now, obviously. But he was supposed to be!

He ripped his attention away from her and focused it solely on the bread before him.

It was hard when Sunny was right next to him, entranced by something as mundane as hair and looking like a dream from the heavens. Bread!

"It is getting a bit too long." He said, desperately hoping his voice wouldn't betray his heart today.

"I could braid it back if you want?" She suggested and oh, the thought of Sunny focused solely on him, tongue stuck out and eyebrows furrowed, was just a bit too much to handle.

"Uh, ah- I was actually planning to just cut it off." He lied. Nope, nope, nope. He would most likely combust if she wove her fingers through his hair for something so mundane when he could do it himself.

He pushed the dough aside, finally ready to be baked, and brushed his hair back with his fingers. It was actually getting a little too long for his tastes.

"I guess I probably should trim it a little." He murmured, eyeing the knife on the table.

He still really didn't want to touch it.

He was staring at it for an awfully long time. Felicity didn't miss how he was spacing out. And how his side of the bed was so cold when she woke up. And the way he was so jittery and shaky when she startled him.

"Do you want me to cut your hair?" She offered. He looked at her with wide eyes, as if he couldn't believe what she was offering. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you look as hot as usual." She added with a wink, watching the pink creep over his face.

"It- me? It's really, I mean I don't thi-" He stammered.

Sometimes when she was bored, Felicity would imagine how much he would stammer if she kissed him. Probably a lot.

"Come on, there's better lighting outside." For such a tall man, he was easily moved. She could drag him and he literally wouldn't fight back. It was a little concerning sometimes.

She took the dark locks of hair in her hand and poised the knife above her fist.

"Wait! I need to.... uh..." Deep breaths, it was just a little bit of responsibility. She could handle something as small as that. "Wash! I need to wash your hair!"

"Huh?"

"You're supposed to wash hair before you cut it!"

"I... I suppose?"

"Just... wait there!" Felicity dashed inside and came out with a bucket of water and soap. "Sit over on the porch." She ordered when he tried to get up and help her.

"You're so bossy."

"I am, thanks for noticing." She sat behind him, slowly working the bubbly lather into his black hair. He leaned into her hands massaging the soap into his hair. Heart, you need to stop racing right now. There was nothing even inherently romantic, this was just so domestic and peaceful. Birds were singing in the trees and he was humming along lightly in harmony. The crisp morning air was starting to warm up enough for rays of light to dapple over them. It was beautiful in a way that never needed to try.

It was perfect.

She rinsed the suds out of his hair and wrung the water out of his hair with oddly skilled ease for someone who had rarely touched anyone else's hair before. Soon enough, she ran out of things to procrastinate with. Deep breath. It's going to be okay. It's just hair.

She picked up the knife and held it firmly in her hands. It was extremely different from a sword. Swords were held towards an opponent, defensively drawn. This needed to be held to the side, working in tandem with her hands and his hair. Gah. The knife was placed firmly behind the hair and she held the hair firmly as the blade cut through the hair.

"I did it..." She mused, the lock of hair shining like a trophy in her hand.

"Why do you sound so shocked?" He laughed, but his smile quickly dropped. "Wait, you have done this before, right?"

"Nope!" Felicity chirped, cutting the hair off right below his neck.

"Wait, hold on-" He protested before turning his head to look at her. Against the knife. Which was still against his neck.

His hand flew up to where her own had been and came away smeared in red.

"Oh..." His voice wobbled as he stared at the blood on his hand. His jaw twitched and set itself firmly, just like when he had an episode and he tried to pretend he was okay.

"Oh, goddess above, I'm so sorry!" Felicity resisted the urge to scream. It was an extremely unfortunate cut, considering how much blood was running down his neck. It... it was a lot.

"He... here. Hold... hold my hand aga-against the... thing." His hand flickered with magic, but it was nowhere near his usual steady flame. It was crackling and broken and fizzled out before sparking up again.

"You can't do it, can you?"

"I can! I just need to focus!"

She pushed his hand away.

"Teach me how to do it."

"What? Now?"

"Yes. Right now. Teach me healing magic. Or may the Goddess help me, I will set my own hand on fire trying."

They hadn't tried anything with magic since what she had dubbed "the incident." She was too scared of losing control again and he was probably still regretting hitting her with a damn frying pan. She didn't mind. If anything, she was grateful he found some way to stop her before she hurt him.

"Teach me." Felicity insisted, panic rising in her voice.

"Foc... focus your fi-fire. It... it pushes out the hu-hurt."

She took a deep breath, feeling the underlying sensation he described as "fire" and thought of how she wanted to wash away all of the scars she had given him, all of the hurt she had caused.

How much she wanted to hold him and apologize for what she had done.

How much she was sorry.

A warm orange pulse lit up her fingers and drew closer to the fresh blood running down his back. It surged through the wound, healing the cut and barely leaving a scar. The change in his face was so clear, now that she knew what to look for. His jaw relaxed so subtly and his tensed hands unclenched. That little breath of relief he let out. When had she learned his tells and signs so well?

"How was that?"

He turned to look at her, studying her hands. Something about how intensely he looked at her made Felicity's flutter. Even if it was just her hands. Even if she knew it would never be because she was beautiful. She knew she wasn't. But a girl could dream.

"That was incredible. I don't think I've ever healed like that." Oh, and now he was holding her hand as if she was something precious and delicate. Wonderful. "Are you okay? Do you need to take a nap or do you want to have lunch?"

"I'm fine?" That... was an odd question...

"You aren't tired? At all?"

"No? I actually feel really energized. Like I could run for miles."

"Curious..."

He looked up at her face and oh, her heart had never felt more fragile. He was just so beautiful, it hurt to look at him in this moment, with the sun glowing behind him and his face filled with gorgeous curiosity. If there was a goddess, she had made him by hand. He was too beautiful to be made from the earth.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"...did you miss the part where you almost bled to death because of me?"

"You're being dramatic. It wasn't that bad. And besides, it was mainly my fault."

"Still."

"You healed it, didn't you? That takes a lot of energy. I'd call it even."

"I wouldn't." She pouted. Something by the corner of her eye caught Felicity's attention. "Hold on."

"What? You're just going to get up and leave me here?"

"You big baby, you can get up if you want. But you can't. Not yet. And close your eyes!"

"And yet I'm the childish one."

"Shut up." She threaded the strands through quickly, remembering the familiar rhythm.

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"No, and I said to shut up." She shot back playfully. She stepped over to the porch and sat beside him, holding her gift with gentle hands.

"Now?" True to his word, his eyes were still shut, but the rest of his face seemed determined to make up for what emotion was lost with his eyes.

"Now." Felicity almost buzzed with excitement.

"For... for me? You... you made a flower crown? For me?" He stared at the cheerful wild orchids braided together.

"Yep!" She fixed it over his hair, which apparently curled as it dried. Why did he have to be so gorgeously perfect? The bright purple was stark against his black hair and fell over his eyes. He touched it in awe, a blush rising in his face. So adorable. She could adore that look on his face for years, never growing tired of his innate allure.

"And now we're even. You look wonderful." But then again, that wasn't too hard for him. He was eternally wonderful, inside and out.


	18. Chapter 18

Practicing magic was easier than she thought. Once she figured out how to harness it, using it as energy was a cinch. It was different from when she used magic to fight with the sword. As Not-Maurus explained, “defensive magic” was a different type of magic than “offensive magic” was. It seemed teaching magic was more tiring than learning was. Then again, he had learned magic by breathing, so maybe he was just tired because she was breaking so many things. Not intentionally. Sometimes she just lost focus and there would be a new hole in their furniture. 

Apparently he was a self-taught carpenter as well.

He was always yawning by the time they finished. Felicity felt bad for him. He wouldn’t have had to work so hard if she hadn’t insisted on learning magic. She watched his entire face droop as he struggled not to doze off. His hand propping up his jaw kept slipping and he had to force himself to stay awake. 

Felicity quietly sat by his side, waiting for him to notice that she had moved. 

“Gah!” He leaped back, scrabbling to regain what little sense of pride he had left. 

“Okay, that does it. You’re exhausted and you need a break.”

“I’m fine, just didn’t sleep well last night.”  
“You’ve been having more episodes than usual this week. I’m getting worried about you.”  
His protest died in his throat. She was worried about him?

But… but why?

“How about I make dinner tonight?” She leaned forward, propping her head up on her fingertips. He hated that it was so hard to say no to that face.

“You can cook?”

“Of course! My garlic mushroom recipe is to die for.” In all honesty, Felicity had never really been allowed to cook. Whether it was because her foster families wanted to make sure she focused on training or they thought she might poison her, they never allowed her near kitchens. 

They still somehow expected her to be able to cook like a good wife. 

“Your _what_ recipe?” He looked so confused, as if she just proposed eating vegetables straight out of the ground without even washing them. Practically heresy. 

“Garlic mushrooms. Wait. Have you never- ” She gaped in disbelief. “You’ve never tried garlic mushrooms!” 

“I just never considered trying them.” 

In all honesty, he hadn’t even thought mushrooms _could_ be eaten. Garlic, sure. He loved the flavor and scent of it. It made everything taste so much better. He used it in _everything_. But those weird root things that grew on literally any and everything? 

“Oh, then it’s settled! I’m making dinner tonight!” 

“What else do you need to find?” 

“Just the mushrooms. I can get the rest from your garden.”

“Bold of you to assume I would let you use my garden.”

“Bold of you to assume I was asking permission.” She countered. He pursed his lips in a weird admiring smirk, as if he was proud of her or he couldn’t believe she was real. She was getting a little too used to seeing it. 

“All right,” He groaned as he stretched his hands out above his head. “Let’s go.” Her eyes trailed up his body and came to rest on the barest hint of skin at his hip. ( _Oh, gross. That’s a perv move. Don’t be a perv._ )

“You aren’t coming with me.” 

“What?” He sulked. Damn the Goddess for giving him such a convincing pout. “Why can’t I go with you?”

“Because I said so.” 

“That’s a lousy explanation.”

“Just…stay here? Please? I don’t want anything to happen to you. You’ve never been mushroom picking before and you don’t know how to identify the good or the toxic ones.”

“…Oh.” He scratched the back of his neck and fought down a visible blush. “I… guess I can stay here then.” 

“I’ll be back soon, you baby.” She patted his head, trying not to let her hand linger in his soft hair as he subconsciously leaned into her touch. He did that a lot. It was so adorably endearing. Felicity had to drag herself away to grab her cloak and head into the woods. 

He pouted as he settled into his favorite reading chair. He looked at a book, but couldn’t even open it. He already missed Sunny. Grabbing a blanket from his room, he angled his chair toward the door. 

He could wait for her.

She came home to find the once-villain curled upside down in his favorite chair, a book hiding his sleeping face. His wildly disheveled black hair stuck out in every direction and his blanket was draped haphazardly around his legs.

“Hey,” she ruffled his hair. “I made dinner.” He blinked up at her, still weary with sleep. 

“That fast?” He asked in a sleep-ridden voice as he swung his legs back to the ground and smoothed his hair back. He didn’t even _know_ how he tugged at her heart’s strings when he did that.

“You were up reading all night, babe.” She smirked. His eyes widened as he heard the nickname. She could practically feel his ears burning. The two just stared at each other for a moment.

 _‘Did she just call me a baby, or did she just flirt with me?’_ He barely dared to breathe. 

“… Dinner?” 

“Yep!”


	19. Chapter 19

“So, what do you think?” She gestured to the plate.

“It’s okay,” He lied, trying to hide a cough.

“Is it too spicy? You’re... um, you’re coughing a lot.” She noted nervously.

“It’s fine, my throat just feels a little itchy.”

“Do you need some water?”

“Yeah, I’ll go grab some.” He pulled himself to his feet but barely made it three steps before he collapsed.

“Gods above! What happened?”

“Can’t… breathe…” He coughed out.

“Are you allergic?”

“How would I know?” He hissed, a shade of red creeping up his ashen face. She scrambled over herself, tossing aside things until she spotted the familiar red book. She flipped through pages until she found the page about allergies. _In case of severe emergency, inject paste below directly into bloodstream every eight hours._ Oh, thank the gods above. A recipe. More ways she could potentially poison him. _Wonderful_.

“Lavender extract? Do we even have that?” She frantically rifled through the drawers, pulling aside herbs. She poured them all into a bowl and ground them together until it turned into a sticky and murky brown substance that smelled sickly sweet. “I’m sorry about this.” She apologized. She sliced out a small cut over a vein and applied the paste before ripping the edge of her sleeve off and wrapping it around the wound. He winced and hissed in pain.

“Hey, stay with me.” She ordered him, frantically slapping his face. The medicine wasn’t working. At least not fast enough. Her hands felt oddly clammy as she placed them against his neck.

What was it he said? _Like pushing the pain out with the energy._ Okay. Should be simple enough. She took in a deep breath and focused on matching her breaths with his. In… and out. In… and out.

Her hands faintly glowed a faint orange in time with their breaths. She pressed her hands against his skin and let the warm energy surge out of her. She could still feel it as it coursed through his body. It found the part of his body that was reacting to whatever he must have been allergic to and pushed it out. Physically. She grabbed a metal bucket from the kitchen and tossed it next to him. He was going to need that.

His breathing shakily evened out, but he still didn’t open his eyes.

_Goddess Above, they had survived so much from each other. Please don’t let this be what killed him._


	20. Chapter 20

He passed in and out of consciousness for the next few days, usually accompanied with various amounts of throwing up or extreme dizziness. Why couldn’t it have been a moderately attractive sickness like when Sunny had hypothermia? She looked so tiny and delicate when she was unconscious, but he just had to have such a disgusting response to a few stupid forest roots. He saw Sunny through his blurred vision a few times, always fluttering in and out of sight. She was always looking at his arms… no! He always tried to pull his hand back, but… it just felt so heavy…

She reached for his wrist, remembering how he had resisted her looking at it earlier. She pulled his sleeve down again and looked closely at his wrist. Pale, white scars danced around his skin. A large scar directly below his wrist caught her eye. Wait… not one scar. It was a series of scars that seemed to have scabbed earlier. 

“What are you doing?” He stirred weakly. His eyes flicked down to where she was staring at his wrists. “…oh.”

“What is this?” She stared at his scars in disbelief. 

“You don’t want to know,” He mumbled. He tried to pull his wrists away, but she kept a firm grip on his trembling hands.

“I said, what is this?” she asked firmly. He grimaced as he tried harder to tug his arms away. Who dared to hurt… whatever the heck he was to her? ( _Friend?_ a glimmer of hope suggested.) Rage burned in her heart. She was still furious about the scars she had given him, but these? These were intentional, _planned_. “I know these aren’t from me. I’m not going to let go until you tell me who did this to you.”

“I did, okay?” His voice was as raspy and harsh as his spiteful tone. “I tried to kill myself! Multiple times! I hung myself! I cut myself! I even tied a rock to my leg and jumped off a damn cliff! I thought it would make me feel better and guess what?” He laughed deliriously. “It didn’t work! It never worked! I can’t die!”

“What?” She asked softly. That wasn’t what she was expecting. “Why would you do this to yourself?” 

“Oh, don’t even try that.” His tone darkened. “Do you know what it’s like to spend your entire life knowing people hate you? People wishing you would die? And if that isn’t enough, I just had to keep waiting until you killed me. That wait was eating me alive and it turns out, I can’t even do anything about it. I can’t kill myself. _You’re_ the only one who can kill me!”

“Me?” It made sense. She never got hurt except when he cut her. She should have had way more scars and bruises, but the only ones that stayed, the only ones that stung, were the ones he had given her. 

“Yes, you. You’re my balance! _My magical other half to even out the world and bring harmony to my chaos_ ,” he mimicked a voice, obviously not believing in the idea of a magical balance. “So you need to just… put me out of my misery! You know what, you’re already halfway there! Just…” He looked around for something, something Felicity was sure she didn’t want to know what. “I don’t know, go grab your sword. Just stab me. Straight through the heart. Then it’s all over and you can move on!”

“You’re sick, you don’t know what you’re saying.” She resisted the urge to cry. 

“No, no! I know exactly what I’m saying,” he slurred feverishly. A lopsided grin flashed across his face. It wasn’t like his actual smile. It was sickening. 

_He’s just delirious. From the medication. It’s delirium. He doesn’t mean it. He doesn’t mean it._ Felicity chanted in her head to keep herself from breaking her stoic facade. He needed her to be strong right now. 

“Sunny.” He drawled, an odd giggle trickling out of his mouth. “Please?”

“Wh…what?”

“It would be so easy!” He gripped onto her arm, snickering hysterically at some unsaid joke. “I wouldn’t even need to try so hard!”

“No! Mau- no, I wouldn’t! I won’t!” He noticed how she paused. 

“You don’t even know my real name.” He mused, looking as if that was the funniest thing in the world. She was about to say his name. She would have. If Maurus was his real name. And he noticed. 

Names meant something, didn’t they?

“Hell, I don’t even know _your_ name!” Still clutching her arm, he pitched forward with laughter, which quickly faded into something similar to a choked sob. “I’m pathetic.”

“No, no! You’re not! You- I think you’re perfect. Just the way you are.”

“No, you don’t. You _don’t._ You… you say these things like they mean nothing! They mean something!”

“I’ve never said anything I didn’t mean. Not to you.”

“Really? So tell me. What does my name mean?”

“What? I- I don’t know it.”

“Yes you doooo.” He rocked back, pouting. “Oh come on. Just say it.”

“Maurus?” She hesitated to say it, especially since she knew it wasn’t his name. The name felt like acid in her mouth. 

“That’s the one!” He used to flinch every time he heard it but now he proclaimed as if she had just won a prize. He leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. “Wanna know what it means?” 

He didn’t bother to wait for an answer. “

“ _Blow out the candles…_ ” He sang in a very off key tone. “ _Hide your young. Something horrid this way blows._ ” 

Felicity recognized the song. It was a village song, one the drunk sang in bars and the farmers would sing as they harvested their crops. It was something she would sing as she trained and swung her sword at an invisible enemy.

It was a warning. About-

“They think I’m gonna eat their children!” He covered his face, madly giggling. “I don’t even eat meat! Because I’m just so scared I’m gonna turn into a monster! But you already think so, don’t you? After all, I am Maurus the _Monstrous_.”

“Maurus isn’t supposed to be an insult! My people just assumed-”

“Yes! It is! Do you even know what my name means?” Whatever seemed so hilarious about his own death turned dismal. “‘Maurus,’ in the most literal sense of the word, means _dark_. Your people demonized me so much, you changed my name, _you changed who I was_ , to mean that I was evil! Your people murdered my father! They let my mother die, _slowly_ and _painfully_! And they couldn’t just forget about me, could they? Oh no, they didn’t even _think_ about trying to help me, they just branded me a monster and sent you to kill me.” 

He stopped and closed his eyes. Felicity thought he might have lost consciousness again, but his grip tightened around her sleeve. If she hadn’t known him, she wouldn’t have suspected he was having one of those episodes where the pain came and went in waves.

“Wanna know what you are?” His eyes snapped open, his grip not relaxing. “You’re a monster hunter. A glorified and beautiful _monster hunter_. I couldn’t control my powers and they blamed me for it. They _loved_ you because you could control your powers and they _hated_ me because I couldn’t. So, yeah, I tried in every possible way to kill myself before _you_ or anyone else could!”

“We never-“ She was so defensive about insisting she wasn’t wrong, her village wasn’t wrong. Was she really going to ignore everything he was telling her to continue to blindly believe the ideals that would have gladly lead her to her death? 

“You grew up with love and people telling you that they _loved_ you, they _needed_ you. I grew up with people storming up here to burn my home down. To burn _me_. Yeah, I killed some of your men. I don’t even feel bad about it. Because, if they had their way, they would have killed me first and returned home as heroes. But you’re so privileged that you just think whatever you’d like.”

“I’m not privileged,” Felicity murmured, just an offhand thought. The fiery spark died out in his eyes, quickly replaced by intense curiosity. 

“You’re not privileged.” He repeated in a similar tone to hers, tipping his head like a small child might. 

“I’m an orphan with magic.” Felicity couldn’t find it in herself to bring her voice louder than a whisper. “I was sent around from house to house, paraded like a human trophy. I was held to such a ridiculously high standard of perfection because of something I couldn’t even control. That wasn’t love, that was… some sick type of idolatry and I couldn’t even tell the difference! And after you stopped attacking, they tried to kill me because they thought you weren’t going to attack ever again but the crops were still shriveling up and dying. I was forced to run away because the people who raised me decided that they didn’t need a curse like me around anymore. People who claimed to be my family tried to kill me too.” 

_Felicity, you stupid idiot._ He was delirious because she accidentally poisoned him. He had an excuse for getting so mad. She did not. He wouldn’t have wanted to know that. Not everything had to be about her. She didn’t need to be so greedy for attention. What was wr-

“I’m sorry. I never knew about that.” He murmured softly, relaxing his grip and leaning into her shoulder. Listening to her vent apparently calmed him down. Ironic.

“Heh. Yeah, me either.” She laughed dryly, resting her head against his. “So, they really had a witch hunt for you?”

“With torches and pitchforks. But they, uh,” He chuckled. “They learned not to do that. You’re an orphan too?”

“Yeah. Died from pneumonia.”

“I’m sorry, Sunny. About… all of that.”

“…Felicity.”

“What?”

“My name. It’s Felicity Lovelace.” He stared at her for a moment, like he was meeting a new person altogether. 

“It suits you.” A soft smile played at his lips. “I guess I should tell you my name, then.” 

“Not if you don’t want to. I know you’re sensitive about it.”

“No, I… I want to tell you.” He took a deep breath. “It’s William. William Deoran.”

“William.” Felicity liked how it easily rolled off her tongue. _Protector_. It was so fitting now that she knew his real name. “It seems so… normal.”

“Sorry it isn’t more exotic.”

“I like it. A lot.”

“I like your name.”

“I prefer it when you call me Sunny.”

“You do?”

“Mmhm. It’s special. Like… someone cares about me.”

“Hey, listen to me. Someone does care about you.” He looked at her with such intensity, she lost her breath for a second. “I… I care about you.”

“Even though you have to look after me?”

“Who said anything about had? I love… having you here with me.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I like living with you.”

“I like it too, William.” Something sparked behind his eyes when she said his name.

“…say it again?” He sat back attentively, almost shocked.

“William?” She drew it out, testing his reaction. An awestruck look came over his face, as if he couldn’t believe someone was actually calling him by name. 

The name was given by the last person who loved him. It was fitting that it was used by the next person in his life who might ever confess to loving him.

“Wow. That’s… wow.” He buried his face in his hands to hide his rising blush, but the tips of his ears still flushed with color. 

“You are so adorable, you know that?”

“I am a fully grown man, I am not adorable.” 

“Yes, you are! You are so adorable.” Felicity giggled.

“Stop that.”

“Make me.” She flirted. “I just might, _William_.” 

“Why don’t you try it?”

“…what are we even doing right now?”

“How would I know?” 

They both broke out in fits of laughter. Felicity grinned at him. It was rare to see him genuinely happy, but he still managed to find some joy in the smallest of things. He deserved to be happy too. She made up her mind right there that she would find some way to make him laugh like that all the time.


End file.
